Sliver knitting, wherein sliver fibers and yarn are fed to the needles of a knitting machine to knit pile fabric, is an old art, tracing its origin back to U.S. Pat. No. 1,114,414. The knitting mechanism usually comprises a circular jersey fabric knitter equipped with a plurality of cards for feeding sliver fabrics to the needles of the knitting mechanism. Generally, in sliver knitting, a single-faced high pile fabric is produced, comprising a base fabric anchoring tufts of sliver fibers, the free ends of which project from one side of the fabric. Each tuft is of generally U-shaped configuration and is composed of a plurality of staple fibers interlooped with the stitches of the fabric. Such a fabric is illustrated, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,952, which utilizes air nozzles located externally of the needle circle to blow the free ends of the tufts under the sinker nibs, to position the tufts selectively on the needles during knitting.
Since the inception of sliver knitting, numerous attempts have been made, with little or no commercial success, to produce sliver knit fabrics which depart from the single-faced high pile type. Two-faced pile fabrics have been proposed, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,712,225, 2,725,735, 2,953,912 and 3,021,698. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,912, successive, oppositely disposed air jets are utilized to produce a two-faced high pile fabric. The oppositely disposed air jets are mounted adjacent alternating cards spaced around the needle circle.
Attempts have been made to produce sliver loop knit fabrics in the past utilizing conventional sliver knitters. Such attempts are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,255,078, 2,280,536 and 2,457,104. So far as presently is known, such endeavors have not proved to be successful in practice. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,255,078 and 2,280,536, angularly spaced rotary brushes, disposed to engage the needles, are proposed to brush the free ends of sliver fibers held by the needles first outwardly and then inwardly between the needles, to produce a two-faced sliver knit fabric. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,457,104 suction means, disposed adjacent the needles, is utilized to draw the free ends of sliver fibers held by the needles outwardly of the needle circle, whereby the free ends of the pile fibers project from what normally is the rear plain face of the fabric.